


catharsis

by punkrockbadger



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M, POV Jack Zimmermann
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-11-25
Packaged: 2018-09-02 01:42:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8646964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkrockbadger/pseuds/punkrockbadger
Summary: “When you’re a boy who loves boys”, Eric begins softly, tucking himself further into the curve of Jack’s arms. He looks small and fragile, though Jack knows he is anything but. “People don’t ask what you want all that often.”





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [skindyedblue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skindyedblue/gifts).



> Here it is, clocking in at exactly 500 words-- my first entry to the Check Please Fandom. I'll be writing more as time goes on-- there's a special place in my heart for Jack, and I'm going to be writing from there quite a lot! :)

Eric always laughs through his tears. He wipes his eyes once he’s steadied himself with tightly curled fists, and it makes something heavy and dark burns in the pit of Jack’s stomach every time.

“When you’re a boy who loves boys”, Eric begins softly, tucking himself further into the curve of Jack’s arms. He looks small and fragile, though Jack knows he is anything but. Eric is brave, can take any challenge head on. Jack cards fingers through Eric's blond hair, pretends soft, careful touches can take the place of the words he lacks. His brain is an empty space, white and bare, and he prays that a word will come strolling in, a world that can solve all of this. He can only do so much with his hands. “People don’t ask what you want all that often.”

Suddenly, Jack's brain is full of words.

“Then I’ll ask.” Jack says earnestly. Every cell in his body means this, writes a reminder for itself. Eric has been scared, time and time again, by all life has thrown at him. Jack can make sure he is never scared again. Jack can do that. Jack has always needed an action, needed a motivation, needed a driving force, and this moment, this simple question, is about to change the path of the rest of his life. He can feel it in his bones. For once, he welcomes it. He opens his arms to change, hands it his coordinates, and dares it to do its worst. The words fall forth like a waterfall, like a river flowing right into the ocean, and Jack feels perfectly at ease. “What do you want?”

He knows that uncertainty well, knows the dark, heavy monster in the pit of his stomach that he wanted so bad to strangle. He wants to lift up twelve year old Eric, to hug him tight and show him the wonders he has worked, the good he has brought into the world. He wants to show him that no matter where his love goes, or who it was addressed to, it is still love, and it still lights up every corner of the universe as perfectly as Eric's smile does.

He is smiling that smile now, brown eyes alight with pure, unadulterated happiness, and god, Jack feels so warm. He feels like Eric is lighting him up from the inside, a fire raging within him, leaving everything from the tips of his toes to his ears glowing. This is where he wants to be, forever. This is what he dreamed of, at twelve and thirteen and fourteen and every day since, this bubble Eric builds effortlessly around them.

"I want this." Eric says, and something inside Jack melts.

"Me too." Jack confides, and Eric smiles, pulls Jack's face toward his until their foreheads rest against each other. They are breathing each other's air, soft and quiet, not a secret between them. Jack leans in closer, smiles against Eric's mouth. "I want this too."


End file.
